There most likely aren’t many tight ends with extra Fantasy Soccer upside than Kyle Pitts. Pitts was the No. 4 decide within the 2021 draft, the very best a good finish has ever been chosen, after which he proceeded to place collectively the second 1,000-yard season ever by a rookie tight finish. He’ll nonetheless be simply 22 years previous when the Falcons’ season begins in opposition to the Panthers in Week 1. That is a profile you sometimes wish to wager on.
However I am rising more and more involved about his probabilities of paying off on that wager. Pitts made his preseason debut in Week 2 in opposition to the Bengals, and his utilization was a bit regarding; he performed 9 of 17 snaps with the starters, per PFF.com. The Falcons additionally had Mycole Pruitt on the market for 9 snaps, whereas Jonnu Smith performed seven.
There are some things to remember there, after all. For one, it was Pitts’ first look in a recreation since struggling a torn MCL final November, so they may have simply been working him again in comparatively slowly. Then there’s additionally the truth that the Falcons use Pitts extra like a large receiver than a good finish, so the presence of Pruitt and Smith is not essentially an enormous hurdle to beat.
Nonetheless, Pitts performed greater than 80% of the snaps simply 3 times in 10 video games final season, so I am unable to dismiss the potential of him being extra of a part-time participant than I would wish to see. Falcons coach Arthur Smith needs to run the ball early and infrequently, and Pitts is not going to be a giant a part of the operating recreation; which may lead him to taking him off the sphere in early-down conditions, even when the Falcons are planning to cross. In what’s already a low-volume passing recreation, any misplaced alternative goes to be robust to beat.
I nonetheless assume Pitts’ upside is value chasing in Fantasy, however I’m transferring him down in my rankings. He might have a greater best-case situation than T.J. Hockenson, Dallas Goedert or Darren Waller, however there are most likely already extra methods for issues to go improper for him. That is why I lastly made the transfer to drop Pitts behind Waller and Goedert in my rankings this week. I hope I am improper, as a result of I wish to see Pitts thrive. However I simply cannot justify taking him over these safer choices with related upside.
Listed here are my newest TE rankings, as of Sept. 2:
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2023 TE Rankings
- Travis Kelce, Chiefs – $26
- Mark Andrews, Ravens – $11
- T.J. Hockenson, Vikings – $7
- Darren Waller, Giants – $7
- Dallas Goedert, Eagles – $6
- Kyle Pitts, Falcons – $6
- George Kittle, 49ers – $5
- Evan Engram, Jaguars – $3
- David Njoku, Browns – $3
- Tyler Higbee, Rams – $3
- Gerald Everett, Chargers – $2
- Juwan Johnson, Saints – $2
- Dalton Schultz, Texans – $1
- Dalton Kincaid, Payments – $1
- Pat Freiermuth, Steelers – $1
- Sam LaPorta, Lions – $1
- Chigoziem Okonkwo, Titans – $1
- Luke Musgrave, Packers – $1
- Cole Kmet, Bears – $1
- Zach Ertz, Cardinals – $1
- Hayden Hurst, Panthers – $1
- Dawson Knox, Payments – $1
- Jake Ferguson, Cowboys – $0
- Greg Dulcich, Broncos – $0
- Irv Smith, Bengals – $0
- Taysom Hill, Saints – $0
- Hunter Henry, Patriots – $0
- Michael Mayer, Raiders – $0
- Cade Otton, Buccaneers – $0
- Tyler Conklin, Jets – $0
